A 2013 Photo Review of CANVAS' Year That Was

The year began with a milestone in the contemporary art scene. 24 galleries and art groups were selected and invited to join what turned out to be an "overwhelming", "outrageous, reverential and fun" Art Fair Philippines.

CANVAS was both honored and excited to participate, and our booth featured 5 of the best - Elmer Borlongan, Manny Garibay, J Pacena II, Anthony Palomo and Don Salubayba - all exploring the unique and pervasive influence of basketball on our national culture.

We're already looking forward to Art Fair Philippines 2014 in February. Based on what we've heard (and even seen) of what the other galleries have in store, the whole event promises to be equal if not better than the original.

2013 also marked the 150th birth year of national hero Andres Bonifacio, and to celebrate and pay tribute, CANVAS centered its 5th annual Looking for Juan Outdoor Banner Exhibit around the theme "Revolution."

Over eighty artists submitted works depicting the legacy and continuing relevance of the Supremo, and these originals were all showcased again at the Vargas Museum in the University of the Philippines...

And, consistent with CANVAS' Looking for Juan Program's goal of making art more accessible and relevant to the public, tarpaulin art banner versions of the artworks again lined the Academic Oval of the University of the Philippines...

...the mountainside of the BenCab Museum in Baguio, as well as the perimeter fences at several construction sites in Bonifacio Global City...

The banners also found their way to Singapore as part of the Philippine Embassy's celebration of Bonifacio's sesquicentenary.

The "Revolution" exhibit also caught the eye of Land Bank, which then invited CANVAS to reprise the show at their corporate lobby in Manila as part of the bank's year long celebration of its own 50th anniversary.

In addition, CANVAS hosted several other art exhibitions throughout the year, including a solo by rising artist Dave Lock (which was held simultaneously with the Banner show at the Vargas Museum)...

... as well as various individual, two-person and group shows  and book launches at CANVAS Gallery and Garden...

Books, of course, are a large part of what CANVAS is all about. 

In December, we launched "The Cat and the Bat and Other Fables", adapted and translated into Filipino by Rhandee Garlitos, with artworks by Elmer Borlongan. The artworks were actually circa-1993 pen and ink Borlongan sketches that we previewed, still at the UP Vargas Museum in November...  

2013 also set us up for the publication of 3 original stories from our Romeo Forbes Children's Story Writing Competition: "The Triangle Man and the Flightless Diwata" by Kate Osias, with artworks by Dex Fernandez... 

..."Here Be Dragons" by Victor Ocampo. (The highly anticipated first set of artworks by Jon Jaylo were previewed at the Ayala Museum late in 2013)...

... and "A Fish Tale" by Becky Bravo, with artworks by Daniel Dela Cruz. This will be our first children's book brought to life by sculptures.  :-) 

These new books can't come soon enough, as we ramp up our pursuit of the dream of handing out a million of our books to a million Filipino children in the next five to ten years. 

Thus, this year, our books also hitched a ride with a group of graduate students and professors of the University of the Philippines National Institute of Geological Sciences, who had embarked on a 3-week long mapping exercise of remote Batanes. We can now say that our books have reached even the northernmost inhabited island of the Philippines - Itbayat, as well as Sabtang and the main island of Batan...

We also raised funds to bring our books to child survivors in the Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda ravaged provinces (particularly Tacloban City in Leyte (shown above), Bohol and Coron (shown in two photos below)... 

... and in many other disadvantaged communities throughout the Philippines from Zambales to Bulacan to the urban poor communities of Tondo...

Meanwhile, we didn't forget the children displaced by the conflict that shook Zamboanga City in Mindanao, several weeks before Typhoon Haiyan hit. More than two thousand CANVAS books, with "Nadia and the Blue Stars" also being given a local dialect translation (chabacano), were printed and went direct from the press to the pier and immediately sailed for Mindanao.

A local NGO called Project Banig then used the books to conduct basic psychosocial intervention for displaced children affected by the armed conflict. The promise and potential of the books as useful tools to help children deal with trauma and displacement are best captured by a couple of reactions from two of the children helped by Project Banig.  

One girl said, “Kailangan natin maging tulad ni Nadia kasi siya ang nagsysymbolize ng pag-asa.  Hindi tayo pwede mawalan ng pag-asa.” (We need to be like Nadia who symbolizes hop.  We cannot lose hope.)

Another striking comment was made by a 16 year old boy who, after reading "Nadia and the Blue Stars" observed, “Wala talaga nananalo sa gera.  Lahat talo. Muslim. Kristyano. Lahat biktima.” (No one wins in war.  Everyone loses.  Muslims. Christians. Everyone’s a victim).

To date, we have given away over 30,000 books, and have raised funds and established partnerships to give away another 20,000 books by the first half of 2014.

We have been told numerous times that for many of the children, our books turn out to be the very first in their personal collection. If only for the hope that this will continue on to a lifetime habit and love for reading, even for just one child, we will say it again - of all the things we do and have done in CANVAS, giving away books, then, gives us the most satisfaction and pride. 

Finally, we will end this review of a year filled with big ideas with a brief recap of TEDxDiliman, our annual event built on the idea of spreading ideas worth sharing.  Early in 2013, Gibo Teodoro accepted our invitation and gave a rare presentation on his ideas and reflections on various national issues at TEDxDilimanSalon, which we held at CANVAS Gallery and Garden. 

We also attended TEDActive in Palm Springs, California, thereby enabling us to lift the audience limit on our main TEDxDiliman event...

...which then resulted in our biggest (and some say, best) TEDxDiliman yet, as nine invited speakers (right to left - Reina Reyes, Jonathan Yabut, Marina Cruz, Don Salubayba, Rica Bolipata Santos,Joey Ayala, Marvic Leonen, Popo Lotilla, and Mark Anthony Carpio) shared their big ideas on "Things That Matter."

Inspired world-class performances by Ballet Philippines, Peso Movement and the Philippine Madrigal Singers took the event to a different level...

(You can view all the talks and performances by clicking here.)

And, as if to punctuate a banner year for CANVAS, a performance/talk by Joey Ayala on the Philippine national anthem touched a raw public nerve, and went seriously viral.


In conclusion, 2013 for us showed the power of ideas and dreams... We don't know how we will top it, but we will certainly give it our very best. And with your continuing help and support, we are reassured and ever hopeful.

We live in interesting times (an understatement, if there ever was one), which is both a curse and a blessing.  The challenges that face us - as individuals, as families, and as citizens of this country and the greater global community - can break us. But they also have within them the seeds that give us a reason to live, and to dream and to act.

May 2014 then be a time of big ideas and bigger dreams for us all! A blessed and happy New Year to everyone!